14 DAY TRIAL // A very unlikely rumor has emerged thanks to Jason Calacanis, an investor and entrepreneur who has been recently quoted as saying that Apple will buy Tesla for a whopping $75 billion (€66 billion) by 2017.
Within the next 18 months, Tim Cook will have owned Tesla, according to Calacanis. He believes that the Alabama-born Apple CEO not only wants Elon Musk’s company for the electric cars but also for the batteries that Tesla plans to sell.
He says that Google is a likely buyer, but Apple's resources would convince Musk to choose the iPhone maker, according to Tech Times.
“No one else in the world could actually make a run at Tesla because they either don't have the cash and, most importantly, they don't have the ability to give assurances to Elon that they won't [expletive] it up. Apple's design team, software, and global distribution would actually LEVEL Tesla up.”
If Apple is making a car, that doesn’t mean Musk wants to help
Calcanis admits that he doesn’t have any solid information either from Apple or Tesla to back up his claims, so his theory is based solely on Apple’s cash hoard and Elon Musk’s dream of making EVs mainstream. That house-battery project he has lined up would also gain some traction under the Apple logo, he believes.
While all this is somewhat possible, it’s certainly not plausible. For one thing, Musk was quoted as saying that an acquisition of Tesla by Apple, or any other company, was “very unlikely.”
Secondly, Musk is a man with tremendous vision. He wants to put us on Mars with his SpaceX program, for example. He doesn’t strike us as the type who’d let others take over just as he’s making his own dent in the universe.
Then again, if Musk believes Apple can help spread his EVs worldwide - and this would include the charging infrastructure as well - it’s certainly an acquisition worth considering.